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Why Are Planes Leaving Liberia?

Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control, speaking on the newshour:

“We have two things in this country that they don’t have and they need in West Africa. One is good infection control in health care facilities so it doesn’t spread there. And the second is good, core, tried and true public health, find contacts, trace them, monitor them, if they’re sick isolate them. If you do those two things you can stop ebole.”

Exactly. We have that, they don’t. So why are people getting on airplanes there, in a country that does not have the ability to stop the spread of this disease?

Frieden says if flights are stopped more people will want to leave. I don’t get that. Imagine what happens when someone gets off a plane in … pick your poor country with poor infection control.

One thing he says — to keep safe we have to help stop the outbreak there. Of course.